Continuing our theme of missed opportunities this week, we look at another big draft day whiff by the Blue Jackets. This one still stings for fans of the team who were around when the 2005 NHL Draft took place. I'm talking about Anze Kopitar.
The full story is so wild that you might not believe it, if you aren't of drinking age just yet. The 2004-05 NHL season was canceled due to a disagreement between the NHL and its Players Union. The famed lockout.
By the time they came to terms, it was too late to play any hockey. So, the league decided to kick things off with an offseason, as if nothing had happened. The unfortunate part of this was, they had no way to hold a draft lottery based on the prior year's standings.
This was a huge deal. In fact, I can't remember the draft lottery ever having so much fanfare around it. Part of it was surely due to the lockout. But, part of it was also due to the prize that waited. A young player from the Rimouski Oceanic, who came with arguably more hype than any prospect since Eric Lindros.
To make it fair, they weighted the lottery balls for all 30 teams. Teams would lose a ball based on previous high draft picks, or playoff appearances in the years leading up to the lockout. That meant that our Blue Jackets had as good a chance as any.
However, whether you were alive back then or not, you know the story by now. The Pittsburgh Penguins won the lottery and selected yet another franchise savior. Our Jackets landed the 6th pick, which was just far enough to miss out on a top-5 that had clearly separated itself.
Many within the fanbase (yours included) started digging deep into the highlight package of a Slovenian forward, touted just outside of that top-5. And by the time the draft rolled around, many of us were pretty excited at the thought of having him in Columbus.
Anze Kopitar was perfect.
There was a lot to like about Anze Kopitar, and the thought of having him in the Union Blue really started to grow on me. Even as far back as his draft year, you could see his intelligence in his game. And, he had the hands and vision to go with it.
The tools were all there, packaged into a 6'4" frame that looked like the perfect fit alongside Rick Nash on the team's top line, hopefully in the not-so-distant future. But Kopitar didn't come with quite as much love from the scouting community as some of the other players in this draft.
Part of that was due to concerns about his raw overall game, and the fact that he came from a non-traditional hockey country. Underrated. Non-traditional. How much more Columbus could this guy be? We were pretty excited. Of course, that all changed on draft day.
Gilbert Brule was Doug MacLean's guy.
The Montreal Canadiens threw a big wrench into the top-end of this draft, when they surprised many by picking a goaltender 5th overall. That turned out to be an outstanding move for them.
Unfortunately, that paved the way for Blue Jackets GM Doug MacLean to override his scouting staff. He happily marched to the stage and snatched Vancouver Giants center Gilbert Brule with the 6th overall pick, proclaiming him as the next franchise great.
I'll go as far as saying this: at the time, I was excited myself. Brule looked like a future #1 center himself, and was in fact more highly touted than almost every other player not named Sidney Crosby in this draft.
Only, the Blue Jackets scouting staff did not see it. Reportedly, they still wanted MacLean to take Kopitar ahead of Brule. In the end, the scouts turned out to be correct. Whether that's due to a horrible (non existent) developmental plan for Brule, or just the fact that Kopitar was a better player, we will never know.
But, their career arcs are vastly different and tell the final story. Brule played just 146 games spread across three seasons in Columbus, scoring 12 goals and 32 points before being traded to Edmonton for Raffi Torres. Gilbert's NHL career spanned 299 total games.
Kopitar played 1,521 regular season games-all with the team that drafted him. He scored 452 goals, 1,316 points, added 27 goals, and 89 points in 107 playoff games. He won two Selke Awards, three Lady Byng Trophies, a Mark Messier Leadership Award, and oh, by the way, two Stanley Cups. He will not only get his jersey retired by the LA Kings next season-they are building him a statue.
As a result, it's really hard to look back on the 2005 draft in any positive light. This may have been the direct moment that the Blue Jackets went from building a competent roster; to having it all crumble in their hands. Oh, what could have been.
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